POLITICS AND LAW

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 72, 17 December 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

POLITICS AND LAW

Biography Of Sir John

Simon

“Sir John Simon,” by Bechhofer Roberts (London: Hale).

Probably the most interesting pei.sonal fact emerging from Bechhofer Roberts’s new biography of Sir John Simon is that Hie subject of tile book is not, contrary to general supposition, a Jew. "1 am just, an ordiim.ry Briton of Aryan stock.” Sir-John is reported to have said in a' letter written in 1934 to Sir Archibald Hurd, author of rhe Official History of the Merchant Navy in the War. “My mother comes from an old Engli.sli family and my father was Welsh. . . . The only reason for which 1 have never hitherto attempted publicly to deny this rumour is Unit I think rhe same silliness or malice might atlempl to distort the denial into some .sympathy with antiSemitism—an attitude which I regard as un-English and which I utterly condemn.”

Depicting as it does tile development of one of the great contemporary careers of English polities, "Sir John Simon” is a biography of revealing interest from the national as well as the personal viewpoint. In privale Hie Sir John rose io eminence as a brilliant lawyer—one of Hie most successful of his generation—mid the story of Hutt rise from rhe time when, in 18i)8, "a thin, unobtrusive young man” was called to Hie Bar makes fascinmlng reading. Mr. Roberts makes it clear, however, that Sir John, for all ills legal success, was chiefly interested in polities.

l'’roni the beginning lie had legnriled the law as a stept'ing-stone te a luilitleal eareer ag a means of earning one's living ami oi training oneself for the arguments and debates of Parliament. Ever since his undergraduate days at Oxford lie had been a[ijiearing on Liberal platforms throughout the country: in 11)05 at tin- age of 32 lie was at last given a sporting chance to enter file House of Commons.

Sir John was successful in his candidature, and henceforward bis path in Liberal politics, though beset at times with problems mid di*at>pointments, was one of broad mid swiff achievement. He received his knighthood at the age of 37, mid three years later entered Mr. Asquith's Cabinet as. Attorney-General. He wtts offered the Lord Chancellorship in 1945. but refused this. Hie highest honour of (lie law. in order not to sacrifice other ambitions. As Home Secretary lie opposed conscription on grounds of principle and resigned to go to France as- a serving Major of Hie Ait- Force. In the light, of events that followed, his choice now appears a futile and near-seeing one, for Britain could not have conducted her vast share of the Great War on a volunteer basis; but for “Stainless Simon.” as he was dubbed by his political adversaries, the matter was a personal one admitting of no compromise. , • After four years “in a political wilderness” Sir John returned Io Parliament in 1922, and wtts largely responsible for the settling of the general strike four years later. In 1931 he le<l the National-Liberals into the newly-formed National Government, and held the post of Foreign Secretary, later becoming Home Secretary. In the most recent Cabinet reshuffle he became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and is thus following a precedent which in the past has led to the Prime Ministership. Such is (lie field covered by Mr. Roberts’s biography, one which commands •the attention of the political student as well as the lay reader. It introduces Sir John Simon not so much as the austere Liberal statesman, but as a brilliant Englishman whose absorbing twin passions, politics and the law, raised him to leadership among his fellow men 'but did not prevent him from losing contact with the homely facets of life.

DANCER’S DEVELOPMENT

“Nina Lessing,” by Edward Crankshaw (London: Macmillan).

This is the story of the development from the immaturity of a very young girl to the maturity ot a world-famous dancer. The whole story certainly revolves round this development. The girl, am Austrian rising into her teens, as Austria emerges scarred and defeated after the Great War, is recognised by her dancing master as most promising. Then a series of domestic disasters crosses Nina’s path. First her father and then her mother die suddenly. The latter commits suicide in the depths of the disastrous poverty that visited her country after the war. She writes to an old and wealthy friend who adopts Nina. Throughout the story the development and tlie changes of Nina are the main theme. Her lover, an Englishman, is the other principal character, and through him the reality of human love and passion overcome the idealism of Nina’s conception of her art.. There are scenes of bitter struggle between the two. but as soon as he understands that Nina loves him, he is certain of himself and of his ultimate victory of her. The story is well-written —better than most, and it improves as it goes along.